One point that needs to be made absolutely clear about Trump’s attempt to defund PBS and NPR is that it has nothing to do with money. The amount of federal funding that goes to public media represents an infinitesimal percentage of the national budget yet it is vital to the public broadcasting in ways I will explain in a moment.
But first, the war Trump is waging here is ideological. He thinks public broadcasting is biased against him and the right-wing MAGA ideology he represents.
From his perspective, PBS and NPR are aligned with the leading universities, the mainstream press, Hollywood and the liberal elites he believes control the state governments in New York, California, Illinois and the rest of “blue” America.
Trump is determined to destroy as much of this “left-wing” infrastructure as he can, whether by legal or illegal means and at whatever human cost in damage to the vitality and sustainability of these institutions going forward.
That brings us to his executive order to defund public broadcasting. Why do the federal funds matter? While it is true that the large public radio and TV stations get the majority of their funding from other sources, the many small outlets serving the rural parts of the country are much more dependent on Uncle Sam.
Even for the larger operations, like Northern California’s KQED, the federal money represents a significant input — about 8 percent — of its annual budget. So its sudden loss would be like losing one part of the ecology that sustains the overall operation. Other sources — foundation grants, underwriting (advertising) revenue, individual donations and and membership fees, with membership being the largest — fill out the budget.
If Trump gets his way, the primary impacts will be on small stations in rural areas that already are news deserts, making a bad situation worse. But the stability of the entire network will also be compromised because the network is only as strong as its weakest links.
And Trump is gunning for the network.
This is part two of an ongoing series. Read part one.
To contact your Congressional representatives about funding NPR and PBS, click on these links for the House or the Senate. Enter your zip code to get direct contact information.
Note: In 1994-5 and from 2013-9, I worked at KQED.
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